Conference backs web paedophile plan

Representatives at a global conference aimed at destroying the worldwide child sex industry have backed plans for more cross-border action against paedophiles on the Internet.

Carol Bellamy, head of the United Nations children's organisation UNICEF, is among those putting their weight behind a concerted effort to clamp down on abusers who use the web.

An increasing number of support workers are acting undercover to crack down on internet paedophilia, and UNICEF is lobbying for more money. Per-Eric Astrom, manager of an anti-child pornography hotline run by Save the Children Sweden, says "from time to time take part in the child pornography community, and sort of go under cover. It's the only way to gather enough evidence to bring paedophiles to court."

New technology has proved both a curse and a blessing in the fight against child sexual abuse, making the production and distribution of pornography easier than ever before but giving authorities important tools to hunt down offenders and trace victims.

Opinions differ on exactly how much child pornography inhabits the web, but experts agree that cases of paedophiles prowling cyberspace and luring children into off-line sexual encounters are on the increase.

Interpol is one organisation acting quickly, and has amassed a library of child pornography aimed at identifying abused children and saving them from further degradation. British police have also begun to use the latest face recognition technology in order to more quickly track down those in danger.

Sharon Girling, a detective constable with Britain's National Crime Squad, said it would be technically possible for Internet service providers to scan their own content against that database and filter out any matching material.Under British law, ISPs can be required to remove illegal material from their servers if ordered by police, but are not responsible for monitoring their own content.

"Technically, we could shut a lot of this down, but it would be illegal to do so," said Girling, who was involved in Operation Cathedral, a 1998 investigation into the cross-border Wonderland Club child pornography ring.

More than 100 people were arrested in 12 countries in that Interpol-led operation, at the time the largest multinational effort in policing history.

Nearly everyone says such an international approach is the only way to go in battling the scourge of Internet child pornography, with paedophiles increasingly shifting images to servers in countries where law enforcement is lax.

"It started as a battle," Girling said. "It's now become a war. Hopefully, we can bring it back down to a battle."